With the release of the extraordinary I Need You To Hold On While The Sky Is Falling earlier this year, the live possibilities for Kelley Polar became very interesting indeed.

Unfortunately, in recent times the New Englander has been hampered by both his own stage shyness and, in the UK at least, a low profile. Then there is the fact he had to play Indig02 last time he was in town. That’s no fun for anyone.

Tonight, he fulfilled that potential and then some in a venue that suited his electro-disco-dance-house surprisingly well. Here we had exemplary sound, an appreciative (if sparse) crowd including Caribou’s Dan Snaith and Patrick Wolf and a setlist sent from heaven itself. ‘Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City)’ remains the most euphoric single from anyone this year, and despite a necessary live re-jigging brought on by the absence of vocalist Clare De Lune, was the centre-piece to Polar’s evening.

In a similar vein of caffeinated exuberance was ‘We Live In An Expanding Universe’, ‘Rosenband’ and a host of delectable, more experimental offerings from previous album Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens. Topping things off we had make-up, Polar’s Juilliard-trained violin playing and hand claps that somehow managed the feat of not being nauseating.
It’s hard at times to identify whether the appeal of Polar’s appeal comes from his sensibilities and naturally exuberant genre or his own instrumental and compositional talent, but ultimately it barely matters; his shows, like his records, achieve the feat of pure joy.

Pic: Akemi Mori